Spirit of Camp David Absent at UN

Yehuda Blum, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, said here last night that “the spirit of Camp David” did not touch the United Nations and the deliberations of the ongoing 33rd session of the General Assembly.

Addressing a press conference attended by representatives of the American Jewish media, Blum charged that the “rejectionist” Arab states–Syria, Libya, Iraq, Algeria, and South Yemen–and their Soviet bloc allies are using the deliberations of the General Assembly to sabotage the summit agreements. He predicted that further attacks on Israel and the Camp David accord will be forthcoming in the next few weeks. Blum noted, however, that in private conversations at the UN many diplomats are very supportive of the Camp David accords.

Blum said that the accords should not be viewed as a one-sided victory for Egypt or Israel. “It was a compromise,” he said, noting both sides made concessions. Israel made far-reaching concessions, Blum asserted, by agreeing to depart from the national consensus that the Rafah salient is vital to Israel’s security and should be retained, and that Sharm el-Sheikh will never be abandoned.